Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross got a little ticked off near the end of Monday’s 20-minute media session at the NFL owners meetings.

It happened as a national TV reporter was asking him about failing to land Jim Harbaugh, Jeff Fisher and now Peyton Manning after very public pursuits.

“Three strikeouts,” the reporter called those unclosed deals.

“Know what?” Ross said. “I’ll do it again and again. I’m going to be bold. And you don’t lose for trying. And you know, if I can find the right guy, I’m going to be bold in getting him and I can’t worry about losing. Because nothing ventured is nothing gained.”

As he delivered this message, Ross poked his left index finger on the table in front of him. He did this several times.

No microphones were disturbed. No shoes were removed. But Ross was about as emphatic as I’ve seen him.

A little earlier, Ross was asked about why the Dolphins hadn’t redone the contacts of several high-profile players (Jake Long and Cameron Wake come to mind) whose deals could be up in a year or two. Ross didn’t like hearing the word “money” come up as a possible explanation for those decisions to stand pat.

“Let me tell you, money will never be an issue for us becoming a winning football team,” the billionaire real-estate developer said. ‘That I can tell you right now. We have to live with the limitations of the salary cap, as all teams do, so sometimes you lose players. You have to put money where you really think it’s going to have the biggest impact. But we have a lot of players’ [contracts] expiring and we’ve got to make sure we don’t make stupid mistakes by signing players that have big names and big-salary bonuses that are going to really impact the cap. You have to take that into consideration.”

Ross gave a little chuckle here.

“One thing I’ve learned is this is one hell of a complex business, I’ve gotta tell you,” he said. “And trying to figure out how you’re going to do things and maneuver things around, playing within the system, I think that’s very important. Certainly those players we know are coming up. We all know we want to retain them. We have to make sure we’re in a position to do that.”

Comments (40 Comments)

Ross is an idiot he should be trying to re-sign Cameron Wake and Jake Long after all their the only impact players beside Reggie Bush. Ross is running this team to the ground and keeps making excuses that were building through the draft. Honestly, we have not drafted a single star so far besides Jake Long at the rate the Dolphins are going we might be good in five years after having various top ten picks. Come on Ross just do everyone a favor and sell the team!!! Were tired of being the laughing stock of the NFL.

Homey D Clown the Jets are emploding adding tebow don’t make the contenders. This trade going to blow up in their face after Mark sanchez begins to suck and people start chanting Tebow then the circus begins. Come on man the Dolphins beat the Jets so who really sucks.

Homey D A$$ Clown, you’re a complete tool. The Jets have no room to talk. All you have are a bunch of selfish bad attitude players and a mediocre at best QB…Well 2 now. Your team is imploding and your coach is a fat toe sucking loud mouth moron. Phins go at least 9-7 in 2012 even with the QB’s we have. One more good WR and we are no worse off than last year and had Moore started that season, we very well could have been in the playoffs. Pull your head out of your moronic ignoran a$$ and go spew your verbal diarrhea on the Jets sight with all the other big mouth, obnoxious idiots from NY.

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Homey D A$$ Clown, you’re a complete tool. The Jets have no room to talk. All you have are a bunch of selfish bad attitude players and a mediocre at best QB…Well 2 now. Your team is imploding and your coach is a fat toe sucking loud mouth moron. Phins go at least 9-7 in 2012 even with the QB’s we have. One more good WR and we are no worse off than last year and had Moore started that season, we very well could have been in the playoffs. Pull your head out of your moronic ignoran a$$ and go spew your verbal diarrhea on the Jets sight with all the other big mouth, obnoxious idiots from NY.

Berardino, do yourself a favor and block “Home”, he uses multiple aliases, but essentially does the same schtick- he posts a rediculous number of times, even pretending to be different people conversing, and spews nonsense… he belongs with the Jerry’s Kids- do what Omar and Chris T figured out a long time ago- block him… otherwise, expect more of the same trash on your blogs…

Ross should just shut up and quit talking the idot don’t even know what he’s saying we havent spent nomoney. Who are we going to spend money on a bunch of bums free agency happened about a week ago come on Ross. Your a complete idot who trades their best player with no reliable recievers.

I think all the comments so far are by idiots. Parcells was in charge with no interference by Ross because his contract said total control. We are in this spot because of him. Place blame in the right spots. Ross is now just getting involved. He knew he did not have much of a chance to sign harbaurgh, or manning, or even fisher(look at the draft picks fisher just got). He went after them anyway. You guys all sound like the guys that were standing on the sideline afraid to ask the cheerleader for a date. Afraid of being turned down. I give Ross a lot of credit since he was not afraid dispite the long odds.. He has come a long way in the last year and this team will be one of the best within a few years. All coaches, players, and media blackouts were all caused by Parcells. Why don’t you all send him letters and vent to him for what he did. He took 16 million dollars and put together a group that did not get it done and left early. He didn’t win big in Dallas and he messed it up here. You guys should apologize to Ross and give him a chance.

I don’t really have a problem with Ross — yet. I do however have a problem with the tuna clone Ireland. This team will never achieve anything with him running things. The fact that Ross backs him will eventually hurt him though.

Why should we apologize to Ross he’s the man with the money and control. He has the control to bring in all the presonal that can make this team succeed but he doesn’t.Ross accept medocrity and doesn’t know how to put a team together that’s why we keep releasing everyone that made an impact last year. Ross doesn’t even have the ability to bring ina good coach because he’s a joke everyone laughing at how dumb the Dolphins look. Your saying at least Ross is getting involved I’d rather him stay out of football moves what has he done besides shows his lack of ability to bring in big free agents. Ross tried to throw millions at coaches but that didn’;t work either. Ross cares more about turning the Dolphins into another Hollywood instead of a winning franchise.

and i bet you wanted fisher? Wouldnt that be great right now. Being wrapped up in bounty gate and losing our def coordinator fisher hand picked. Fools

You equate not signing a coach or player as failure.By those terms the whole league is failing. Every team that didnt get manning or mario williams is a failure.

Were failures for passing on Orton and Kolb and Deangello Williams too aren’t we? Not sure you realize the bullets we dodged that fans wanted us to take. Just any 2 of the above contracts would have crippled us with there poor play.

You “guys” need to cut Ross some slack. The constant name calling is getting a bit old. The man has had his say and provided more information to the “fans” of this area than any other owner would have felt they needed to. You should be a bit more grateful that there even is a team here at all considering the treatment they get from this are and its “fans”. If you don’t have something nice to say, jump off a short pier. We all be better off! Thanks!

Let’s not pretend that the newly proclaimed accessibility has nothing to do with trying to repair their public image. I believe that Ross was uncomfortable with Parcells “no contact” approach. But when he says he wants his franchise to be “transparent” … much of the reason behind it is indeed transparent.

“Let me tell you, money will never be an issue for us becoming a winning football team,” the billionaire real-estate developer said. ‘That I can tell you right now. We have to live with the limitations of the salary cap, as all teams do, so sometimes you lose players. You have to put money where you really think it’s going to have the biggest impact. But we have a lot of players’ [contracts] expiring and we’ve got to make sure we don’t make stupid mistakes by signing players that have big names and big-salary bonuses that are going to really impact the cap. You have to take that into consideration.”

I believe he has no problem spending money on the team. But that doesnt make it a non issue. His Dolphins are up against the cap with 3 losing seasons in a row. He doesnt have to worry about making stupid mistakes on big name player contracts that kill their cap space. They’re already up against it without a bunch of big name players. Ireland is indeed the man. If Ross ever gets around to firing him, I wonder if Peterson will be his replacement … Good time, good times.

We hear you Rossie;but,the problem is twofold:Jeffie Ireland and the fact that you continue to spend only on back-up players.So–if you want to stem the bleeding and put more butts in the seats–fire little Jeffie and hire Bill Polian.He knows the NFL like almost noone else and certainly better than the accumulated “wisdom” of the entire Fins front office.

I do agree that Ross shouldn’t receive the brunt of most of these attacks. I don’t want an owner that thinks he knows what the game is about (Dallas and Washington come to mind). I want one that signs the checks wheres hes told by the GM. Now there is the issue. Ireland is beyond incompetent. We don’t have salary cap room because he has misspent on players that were marginal at best. And as far as these fans who say we should just sit here and play nice all the time, go watch your son play soccer while not keeping score so nobody’s feelings get hurt. I keep hearing i’ve been a fan for 15 – 20 – 30 years. Well then you don’t remember the 70’s when we didn’t lose a game to NE. Or the fact that we were one of the winningest franchises of all time until a few years ago. We had people that knew football running the organization. Marino (HOF) – 6th QB taken, Mark Clayton – 8th round draft pick, Mark Duper – late 2nd rounder, Dwight Stephenson (HOF) late 2nd round pick, these are just part of the 80’s drafts. We have numerous Hall Of Famers from the 70’s teams. Name one player with the exception of Jake Long (when he’s healthy) taken in the first round that has panned out over the last 10 years. We have a right to bitch about our team if we feel they are not doing things with our best interest in mind, after all we are the reason the game is played. At least it used to be that way. We buy the merchandise, the tickets, fly to the games (for those of us not in Miami). So if we don’t express our displeasure at how things are run then it will continue to be business as usual.

MIKE BERARDINO is still living the dream he first hatched as a young boy growing up in South Florida in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He’s writing about sports for a living. Best of all, he’s doing it in a now-crowded South Florida sports landscape teeming with talent, passion and, yes, sometimes even controversy. As the newest sports columnist at the Sun Sentinel, where he’s worked since February 1998, most recently as a Dolphins beat writer, Mike will draw on his many experiences over the years covering virtually every major sport and event. You name it, he’s been on the scene: World Series, Summer and Winter Olympics, Super Bowls, NBA Finals, NCAA Final Fours, BCS Championships, Wimbledon, the Masters, NASCAR Sprint Cup and on and on. Talk about living the dream. And now, with this new role and a daily blog forum for his many ideas and opinions, it just keeps getting better.